Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Five ways online university learning can be better than face-to-face teaching

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Here are the five ways (quoted):

  • Accessibility - Online learning is free from a range of physical restrictions that impede face-to-face teaching.
  • Personalisation - it is possible to present multiple learning paths with different sets of resources and activities, allowing students to choose their own learning content and pace.
  • Clarity - Every single idea and task, large or small, is explicitly and repeatedly explained in online settings.
  • Flexibility - students will have diverse learning experiences which may be more challenging and stimulating than face-to-face lectures with little variation.
  • Independence - it is ultimately students who need to regulate and direct their learning.

I find it interesting that it is often along these axes that criticisms of online learning take form, saying (for example) it is not accessible enough, it is not clear enough, etc., while leaving out the analagous criticism of traditional education.

 

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Dec 22, 2024 09:47 a.m.

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